Lewis

Item: Even So
Author: Bert Gangl

Even So

(2002)

Reviewed by Bert Gangl

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Label Deep Elm RecordsThe Phantom Tollbooth2002

alternative rock britpop indie rock

Given the venerated status attached to his now-classic literary works, one might rightly expect any band taking its name from writer C. S. Lewis to aspire to at least a portion of the famous author's eloquence and imagination. True to inspiration, the members of Texan four-piece Lewis fill their sophomore outing, Even So, with a decidedly literate, image-rich set of lyrics. Entries like the title cut and "Find Your Way" ("Cruel fate/ An arrow to the heel") pull their poignant themes from Greek mythology. Others, such as "Out of Sync" (Thistles and thorns/ I'm choked from the world), paint equally affecting portraits using the Gospel parable of the seed and sower. Over it all, songs like "This Won't Hurt a Bit" and "Feet on the Ground" (You only speak a word/ And the void gives birth) balance out the more somber material by sprinkling eloquently-worded shards of hope across the length of the release.

Musically, the second album sets sail atop much of the same lush, ethereal emo rock current that buoyed the Appleseed Cast's two-part Low Level Owl project. But, where the atmospheric textures of both LLO efforts sometimes seemed to be almost ends unto themselves, the ambient accouterments on Even So function more to serve than to carry the compositions which they adorn. To be sure, the passionate vocals, sublimely interleaved guitarwork and underlying pop sense of tracks such as "Bitter Days," "The Cruelest Month" and the best-of-album "Feet on the Ground" ensures that the tracks, and, indeed, the bulk of those on the record, stand as viable, regardless of sonic trimmings.

In fairness, singer Brett Tohlen's vocals, which fall somewhere along the line intersecting Bono, Brent Bourgeois and Radiohead's Thom Yorke, occasionally steer wide of the intended notes, and a few of the songs tend to languish in their own directionlessness. That said, though, Tohlen's smooth falsetto fashions the perfect vehicle for the release's moody, semi-ethereal consistency, injecting both passion and vulnerability into the proceedings. Admittedly, fans of what might be considered more "immediate" forms of music may well be tempted to gloss over Even So's understated instrumental section and highly metaphoric language. But the more diligent members in the crowd will be pleased to discover that the album offers up a plentiful reward for those willing to lend an attentive ear.

3.5 tocks